Job as parents can be tough, emotional and painful

Sunday

Nov 25, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Sometimes I think that if I were a young mother today, instead of years ago, I’d be behind bars as an unfit parent.

Sometimes I think that if I were a young mother today, instead of years ago, I’d be behind bars as an unfit parent. I recall one day we went to visit Vic’s parents and brought our children with us. I opened the back car door, and as the last child emerged, I slammed the door shut — on his finger. I thought he was completely out of the car, but he was still holding on to the door frame. I hurriedly opened the door, let him out and closed the door again — pinning that same finger in the door.We took him to the emergency room, and when that screaming child got to see the doctor, I had to explain what I had done. Talk about embarrassed! Twice I got his finger caught in the door; twice during one attempt to get him out of the car. How stupid could I be?Another time we were going to New Roads to visit my parents. Three of us, all adults, stood in the doorway to be sure the little ones didn’t get out. Well, one of the little ones got out anyway. We searched high and low and couldn’t find him. I was just getting ready to call the authorities to report a missing child when two of our older children came home and reported they had found him. He was about three blocks away talking to two little girls. I couldn’t believe he had gotten by me and two of my sisters to go on his little escapade. Today I think a parent would be either jailed or cited for something like that. It sure didn’t make me look good as a mom. He was only about 3 or 4 years old. Then there was the time when we were living on West Main Street. We had a little grocery store next to our house and had built a sort of carport in front of our house with a protective railing around it. The only thing wrong with that picture was that the dowels comprising the “fence” were not close enough together, and one day one of our younger children decided to try to get out of the enclosure. He stuck his head through the bars and then couldn’t get his head out. You can guess what happened next. Yep. Another screaming kid. Now don’t you think today the authorities would have arrested me for putting a child in danger? Moms are supposed to be super moms and know all those little things that can be a danger to children. I don’t remember how we got his head out from between those wood dowels, but since he’s all grown up now and there’s no wood anywhere near his head, we must have gotten him out somehow.There is no way I would have been that careless either time. But parents don’t have eyes in the back of their heads, and they can’t watch children 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Children can be cagey. They’re smart. They seem to know when it’s a good time to get into trouble. I’m glad I’m not a young parent today. It’s hard enough to rear children without having the fear of being arrested for a child’s accident. It’s enough to have to go around with a guilty conscience without having a rap sheet to boot.I can still remember my embarrassment when the doctor asked “How did this happen?” and I had to relate that I slammed the car door twice on my child’s finger.I’m telling you, life is definitely not a bed of roses when you’re trying to raise children. But, in the long haul — and it’s a very long haul — the children are worth it. And that’s not even counting the sleepless nights and the meals eaten while standing because there’s just too much to do to take time to sit down.If you’re like me, you’ll get old and wonder how you did it.

Irene C. Michel, a native of Terrebonne Parish, is a columnist for The Courier and Daily Comet. She can be reached at 876-3252 or ICMwriter84@gmail.com.